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<title>The Teacher by comicc_bookk_jawnss</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29025168">The Teacher</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicc_bookk_jawnss/pseuds/comicc_bookk_jawnss'>comicc_bookk_jawnss</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:26:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,003</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29025168</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicc_bookk_jawnss/pseuds/comicc_bookk_jawnss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dani questions Jamie's sudden cold feet about opening a flower shop, Jamie opens up more about her past.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dani Clayton &amp; Jamie, Dani Clayton/Jamie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>70</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Teacher</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="npf_chat">"You sounded really excited about this the other day. What’s changed?"</p><p>Jamie didn’t respond, still not meeting her eyes. Dani swallowed.</p><p class="npf_chat">"I know… I know that we said one day at a time, and that I don’t know a lot about this stuff, but in the time that I have left… "</p><p>Jamie finally looked up.</p><p class="npf_chat">"No, no, that’s not… " She took Dani’s hand. <b>"</b>Well, that’s not the only… "</p><p>Jamie sighed.</p><p class="npf_chat"><b>"</b>You’re not the problem… I am."</p><p class="npf_chat">"You? But you’re the… the plant expert."</p><p>Jamie laughed. She’d been called a gardener, a groundskeeper — well, and a lot of other things, too, for that matter — but never a plant expert. She quite liked it.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Yes… but this would be a whole business."</p><p>Seeing that Dani was still a loss, Jamie cleared her throat.</p><p class="npf_chat">"D’you remember I told ya I used to live in London?"</p><p>Dani nodded.</p><p class="npf_chat">"I was 15 when I moved there, never finished school."</p><p>Well, now Jamie’s cold feet made sense. Dani went to respond, feeling terrible for being so slow on the uptake. But Jamie looked down and kept going.</p><p class="npf_chat">"And three years later… "</p><p>Now, Dani really felt like an idiot. But it was hard to remember that just because she saw Jamie a certain way didn’t mean the world would, or ever had.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Jamie, I’m so sorry."</p><p>Jamie looked up slowly, her lips curling into something between a grimace and a sad smile.</p><p class="npf_chat">"S’all right. It’s ma life."</p><p>Dani wasn’t sure what to say.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Besides, I was always pretty shite at maths anyway, so… "</p><p>Dani laughed slightly to Jamie’s relief, but then cocked her head.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Well, I can help with that."</p><p>Jamie felt butterflies forming in her stomach. Truth to be told, she’d been hoping Dani would offer. But she still wasn’t sure how she felt about it.</p><p class="npf_chat">"I dunno."</p><p>Dani arched an eyebrow.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Are you doubting my teaching skills?"</p><p>Jamie went wide-eyed.</p><p class="npf_chat">"No! No, I - "</p><p>Dani smiled. Jamie laughed.</p><p class="npf_chat">"I’m just not that smart, that’s all."</p><p>Jamie let go of Dani’s hand and stood up from the table they'd been sitting at. She walked past her to the nightstand in their motel room, crouched down to open the door and started rifling through take-out menus.</p><p class="npf_chat">"So for dinner… "</p><p>She felt Dani’s hand on her shoulder, then saw Dani crouch down beside her.</p><p class="npf_chat">"<em>You </em>are the smartest person I’ve ever met."</p><p>Jamie couldn’t help but laugh a bit. She knew that couldn’t possibly be true.</p><p class="npf_chat"><b>"</b>You are."</p><p>Jamie turned to her.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Dani… "</p><p class="npf_chat">”Look, we can do a trial run… and if it doesn’t work out, then I can handle the finances by myself.”</p><p>She was leaving the obvious unsaid, but Jamie understood. She looked down again.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Doesn’t solve the other problem, though."</p><p class="npf_chat">"Well, if anyone sees it as a problem, they’re gonna have to go through me first."</p><p>Jamie smiled to herself, then looked back up and nodded.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Okay."</p><p>Dani smiled.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Yeah?"</p><p class="npf_chat">"Let’s do it."</p><p>Dani leaned in and kissed her, then immediately stood up, walked back to the table and grabbed the car keys.</p><p class="npf_chat">"Where are you goin’, then?"</p><p class="npf_chat">"<em>We</em> are going back-to-school shopping."</p><p class="npf_chat">"Now?"</p><p class="npf_chat">"Why wait?"</p><p>With that, she turned on her heels and walked out the door. Shaking her head but smiling, Jamie stood up and followed suit.</p><p> </p><p>*****</p><p> </p><p>Admittedly, Jamie’s math skills were rusty. Ironically, she’d dropped out just one year shy of taking her GCSEs, at which pointed she could have been done with school, though Jamie insisted she wouldn’t have passed anyway. And given how many years had passed since and the less than ideal learning environment she’d had at school and at home, Dani estimated that retention-wise she was currently at more of a junior high level, which meant she had a lot to catch up on. And as Dani had anticipated, she got frustrated fairly easily, though she was always equally quick to insist that it had nothing to do with Dani’s teaching ability but was just matter of her not being smart enough or young enough, at which point Dani would change gears.</p><p>She’d have Jamie take them for a drive and listen the radio, or go for walk and talk. She’d have to be the one to get Jamie talking, of course, but it wasn’t all that difficult. She’d asked about the plants they’d pass by, or the latest novel Jamie was reading, which would change almost every week. And Jamie would figure out what she was trying to do. But her face would nonetheless light up, and she’d talk for a couple minutes at a time, which didn’t sound like a lot. But it was for Jamie.</p><p>As time went on and states went by, though, the gaps between their study breaks became longer and longer… because they were finally paying off. It was, as Dani had known, not a matter of intelligence but of confidence. With Jamie finally beginning to appreciate her intelligence in other areas, she was trusting herself more and more in math, not necessarily that she would get all the answers right but that she would keep trying even if she didn’t. She started initiating lessons herself, asking more questions, even voluntarily doing worksheets when Dani was driving or early in the morning before Dani woke up.</p><p>By the time they made it to Vermont, she’d mastered basic algebra and moved on to geometry, which she knew wouldn’t be all that necessary for her to know as a business owner. She’d told Dani one day that she was “just curious,” and it had been the best moment of Dani’s teaching career. Jamie insisted that geometry was it, though. Trigonometry didn’t even sound like a real word, and she had no interest in all that “imaginary numbers shite,” which Dani thought was fair enough. And anyway, she’d soon be the student, and she really didn’t want to get distracted and accidentally kill a plant immediately. Jamie had insisted that wasn’t possible, though she couldn’t help adding with a laugh that Dani was rather good at doing the impossible.</p>
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